Florida woman charged with neglect after police say she let 7-year-old son walk to park alone

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – A Florida woman is charged with child neglect after police say she let her 7-year-old son walk to a park alone.

Thirty-four-year-old Nicole Gainey of Port St. Lucie was arrested Saturday. Police say her 7-year-old son was en route to a park about a half-mile from home when lifeguards spotted him sitting alone at a nearby pool. When they questioned him, he ran toward the park, where officers picked him up. According to a police report, Gainey told officers she allowed her son to go to the park unsupervised once or twice a week.

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Attorney John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties group representing Gainey, says his client is a good mother who is scared but ready to fight the charge.